The accretion activity of the Ae Herbig star CQ Tau

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Abstract
Results of spectral observations of the isolated Ae Herbig star CQ Tau obtained in 1995–1998 in the Hα line and near the sodium resonance doublet are presented, together with simultaneous photometric monitoring of the star. CQ Tau is a member of the family of young UX Ori stars with nonperiodic Algol-like brightness decreases. The star is surrounded by an accretion disk, in which its emission-line spectrum and part of its absorption-line spectrum are formed. The strong variability of the Hα, D NaI, and HeI 5876 Å lines testifies that the gaseous disk is appreciably inhomogeneous in both the radial and azimuthal directions. This inhomogeneity probably results from uneven feeding by the circumstellar material from the peripheral regions of the circumstellar disk. Over the four years of observations, we observed the star in deep minima three times (ΔV∼2). On these nights, an increase in the Hα equivalent width followed the decrease in radiation flux. In the two deepest minima, the normally two-component line profile had only a single component with a nearly symmetrical profile. This behavior of the Hα line is in good agreement with the results of numerical modeling of Algol-like minima and can be used to estimate the parameters of the dust clouds eclipsing the star and inner accretion disk. These estimates suggest that the circumstellar dust clouds can approach very close to the star and be sublimated there.